South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Waging war over gas stoves
As DeSantis wades in, here are the facts and concerns
In an unexpected twist, 2023’s first political culture war is being waged over ... gas stoves. It has Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis heated.
“When we say don’t tread on Florida or let us alone, we mean that, including on your gas stoves,” said DeSantis, unprompted, at the start of a Thursday news conference on drug reform. “You’re not taking our gas stoves away from us.”
Until this week, natural gas stoves didn’t seem to have a lot of fans in Florida, where only 8% of households use them — the lowest rate in the nation, tied with Maine, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
But a debate ensued after U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission member Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg on Monday that a ban was being considered. He later said it would only be a ban on installing new gas stoves in homes, if any ban happened at all.
By Wednesday, the safety commission chair denied planning to ban gas stoves and said the commission has “no proceeding to do so.”
By that point, though, talk of natural gas stoves had everyone fired up.
“Big government liberals are going for a new overreach record. A bit of advice for @JoeBiden: focus on fixing the problems you’ve created, like raging inflation and a wide open border, and stay the heck out of our kitchens,” U.S. Sen Rick Scott tweeted Wednesday.
Data has been building for decades that natural gas stoves emit dangerous chemicals such as health-damaging nitrous oxides. These have been linked to respiratory diseases such as asthma.
When a gas stove is turned on, these air pollutants can exceed safe levels within minutes, particularly if families don’t properly ventilate their kitchens, dozens of studies suggest.
These stoves harm the planet, too: Stanford researchers estimate they contribute as much methane annually as 500,000 cars. The majority of the methane is emitted when they aren’t even in use.
The conversation was reignited in December by a study led by researchers from the Rocky Mountain Institute Carbon-Free Buildings initiative. The institute identifies as a nonpartisan nonprofit.
The study estimates roughly 13% of U.S. childhood asthma cases are associated with gas stove use and predicts 3% of childhood asthma cases could be prevented if the stoves weren’t present in Florida.
The American Gas Association argues the study does not account for other potential causes of childhood asthma, calling it an “advocacy-based mathematical exercise that doesn’t add any new science” in an online statement.
Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia, said in a social media post that, while he thinks there’s decent evidence that gas stoves are associated with childhood asthma, this particular study should be interpreted with caveats.
He’s skeptical that the authors successfully prove a clean cause-and-effect relationship.
“This doesn’t necessarily impact the policy recommendations — the evidence that there’s some increased risk is pretty solid imo [in my opinion] — but I do think it’s important to note that getting rid of every gas stove in the US may not result in a 13% decrease in asthma,” he wrote.
DeSantis in June 2021 banned Florida cities from restricting the use of fossil fuels such as natural gas through HB 919.
Environmental groups have long advocated for households to switch to electric stoves, making health concerns a centerpiece of their campaign.
The Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act includes rebates for switching to electric stove, oven or other electric appliances. While most electricity currently relies on fossil fuels, too, the goal is to convert to renewable energy like solar or wind in the coming decades.
The American Gas Association, however, has spent years hyping up gas stoves and even has a website, cookingwithgas.org, where chefs gush about their appliances, according to a Mother Jones investigation. The natural gas industry as a whole has emphasized that installing a hood and properly ventilating kitchens can greatly reduce or eliminate risk.
A letter from a group of congressmen in December called for increased regulations, including hood requirements, safety labels, and mandatory performance standards. A ban was not mentioned.
In Central Florida, a report examining the health and well-being of residents in Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties identified asthma as an issue.
In Orange County, 16.5% of adults are diagnosed with asthma, well beyond the state’s 13% average.
The report attributes asthma cases to genetics, tobacco smoke, air pollution or comorbidities such as being overweight or obese.
Ccatherman @orlandosentinel.com; @CECatherman Twitter